Re: I am the new guy. Question on new purchase.

Welcome. From South of Flint. I also own 10 acres but work on a total of about 25. I will offer a viewpoint from a guy who thinks 180 degrees from yours. It seems like many first time tractor buyers end up buying a tractor 2 or 3 sizes to small they underestimate the value of a larger tractor. I personally think you would be a lot happier with a 35 - 45 hp tractor like several others in this thread
in November of 2011 i had been looking for tractors since 2004. I actually priced out a 3320 with 300cx loader loaded tires for $25716 with tax also considered kubota Grand L 3240 both were with within about $200 when loaded with similar content the kubota does not come with quick attach bucket standard. I would definitely consider looking bigger like the two models i mentioned above to avoid regret later. The 1 series would probably do everything you have mentioned of it just might not do it well or all that fast. If you have a tractor you conceive new and exciting ways to use it it does not hurt going bigger Buying a tractor is a lot different than buying a car/truck most people replace their cars in under 3 years others stretch it out to 5-10 years and in michgan i'm sure your well aware that by 20 years they are mostly rusted and ready for the junk yard. Consider that when buying a tractor this could very easily be a once in a lifetime purchase for most homeowners. If you purchase the right size tractor and put say 150 hours on it a year in 20 years you will have 3000 hours on it. Most tractors these days should not have any problem going far beyond that many hours. Look at the number of old fords, JD's, Massey's that are out there still performing farming work that are 50 plus years old. Being cheap and erroring on the small side could easily cost you several thousand extra in the long run on the loss you would incur if you decide to trade up to a larger tractor later. Plan for the long Haul

I learned that Utility tractors like the Mx5100 or M5040, NH work master are actually much cheaper with more capability for less than similar hp compacts they don't have some of the bells and whistles that CUT's

Here are 2 stories of people i know with JD 2x20 SCUT's My next store neighbors Kubota B2400 and my own story with much larger utility tractor
I know a guy who has about 3 acres of somewhat hilly but open mostly open terrain. He has a JD 2320 he splits wood with a 3pt PTO (separate pump) powered splitter, moves palatalized firewood, plows snow, and pulls a 12 foot reel type mower to maintain his very well manicured. He is borderline for power and traction even with loaded tires pulling the mower up the hills. The loader is undersized he has to keep the pallets small even with a quick attach pallet fork setup. He has mentioned he wishes he had more hydraulic capacity. He sometimes regrets not getting a 2720 same 200 series loader or a smaller 3000 series to get more loader capacity and weight.

My best friend down the road owns a JD2040 (1981 3400 hours) which is a much larger 2wd 40 pto hp but no loader. Fortunately he gets along with his neighbor and he let us use his little tractor which is a JD2320 or 2520 not sure both have 14 acres and i have to admit it does do pretty good for its size moving snow with the front blade or grading the private road with his box scrapper although its really slow due to small size. I will share my experience with this tractor before i bought mine. The loader, hydraulics, engine power, and ground clearance definitely leave something to be desired, he had a full gravel train drop off 20 some tons of of crushed 3x3 concrete which is not all that heavy compared to clay This large aggregate was used to fill in all the low spots and chuck holes along his 1500 ft driveway. going into the pile and scooping up a bucket full of concrete darn near stalled the tractor out on multiple occasions Plenty of ballast with loaded tires and box scraper on the back. A heaped bucket probably does not hold more than 2 wheel barrows full but it does move it under its own power although not much faster than a brisk walk its still Much better than wheel barrow and shovel. The tractor with loaded bucket and WOT could not maintain full speed going up a slight hill i don't recall but am sure it was less than 8 mph i wanted to put my feet out and push when it came my turn to work the tractor. The tractor with the mower deck on had miserable ground clearance we were dragging it all over the place even with it fully up. Bottom line it got the job done but it took all day.

for comparison I moved a 12 yard dump truck load of crushed concretes with my tractor 400 feet from the pile installing a drive from my barn across my yard to the field in just over an hour. easily moving 3/4 of yard plus with each load

My buddy owns a Kubota B2400 4wd no loader which is pretty similar in size and hp to the JD2320.
He uses it to brush hog move his trailer around and plow snow. He has been looking for a good deal on a used grand L 3240 - 3940 and loader. His main complaint is that he does not have enough power to move heavy snow with a 6ft back blade it bogs the tractor down.

The moral of these 3 stories is that the 25 hp tractors really want another 10 - 15 hp and more loader capacity

I own an M8540 and generally subscribe to the bigger is better theory for tractors. While a L5740 ($39,656.00 MSRP when similarly equipped to an M8540 MSRP 43,801.00) would have done about 90% of what i needed. I decided that the extra 25 pto hp, 1655 lbs of extra loader capacity at the pin and 20 more inches of lift height" was well worth the extra $4000 over the span of 30 plus years i hope to own it. If you by 2 small of a tractor and need to upsize later you could easily loose $4000 on a single trade in. I will definitely admit i take the Tim Allen approach. For 70% of what i do my tractor is 3 frame sizes to big or about 9 models bigger than the L3240 i strongly considered. I could not have bought much smaller of a tractor and been able to lift 3000 lbs pallets from a semi truck. Of which of have off loaded 2 different semi trucks in the last 13 months with pallets in excess of 2600 lbs.

Re: I am the new guy. Question on new purchase.

xring 100,
I agree that a larger tractor is much better for fully developing ten acres if there is a lot of work to be done. The issue for most would be that this would be a short term use and after the major work is done a much smaller tractor would suffice. In my experience with custom tractor work I often bring in two or three machines that are all 40hp and larger to whip a place into shape fast. The typical small property owner can then get by with a much smaller tractor to maintain ten acres afterwards. For most properties of this size a 30hp machine would be a good choice imo.

Re: I am the new guy. Question on new purchase.

If the dealer is that close and is a good one, that is invaluable. A good dealer is more important than brand. Talk with your neighbors about tractors and attachments and that will help with the process. Knowledge is power.

Re: I am the new guy. Question on new purchase.

Originally Posted by jenkinsph

xring 100,
I agree that a larger tractor is much better for fully developing ten acres if there is a lot of work to be done. The issue for most would be that this would be a short term use and after the major work is done a much smaller tractor would suffice. In my experience with custom tractor work I often bring in two or three machines that are all 40hp and larger to whip a place into shape fast. The typical small property owner can then get by with a much smaller tractor to maintain ten acres afterwards. For most properties of this size a 30hp machine would be a good choice imo.

For what kjvthumper suggesting he wants to do with it a 30 hp CUT is fine probably a much better match than the 1 series he's looking . I suggested the jd3320 (32.8 hp) or L3240 (34 hp) which puts you up into a larger frame size with heavy duty loaders they lift 600 - 800 lbs more (60% - 80%) than the 2x20 or B series loaders. In terms of weight your getting twice the weight making it a much more capable tractor with loader your now in the weight range of a large family sedan versus half of a family sedan.
I know another guy who lives about 5 miles away with 17 acres see picture below who has a b3030 right at the 30 hp mark he likes it but really wanted a bigger tractor but a used 3030 was all he could afford at the time. for about 90% of what does your right its perfect he still some occasions times where he could use more tractor in terms of both loader, hp , and ground clearance.

If i could find a used 3320 or L3240 with less than 600 hours for about the same price as a new B series 2920 or 2720 i would opt for the larger tractor